Life, ey!
Life, ey!
Just when you think everything is travelling well…LIFE happens.
Family Life is busy, messy, adventurous, fun, challenging, stressful, imperfect, loving and crazy. There is always a lot happening, a lot to juggle and a lot to make work – And with all this going on, parents have the responsibility of raising strong, resilient, kind, happy, and well adjusted kids into well adjusted, happy, kind, responsible adults.
For many mums, our identity is wrapped up in our kids succeeding or failing in life. We feel as though we have done a great job when our kids do well, but when our kids struggle in life, it is so easy for us to feel as though we have failed in our job as ‘MUM’.
Parenting is the hardest job I have ever done. It’s rewarding and mostly enjoyable, but really hard going. My friends used to tell me to enjoy the toddler years, because when the kids hit the teen years, my job as mum was going to get really hard. I remember thinking ‘how can the toddler years be easier than the teen years?’ After all, toddlers are so demanding.
It turns out that the teen years have opened an array of situations (not all bad) – I never thought would happen when my kids were toddlers. Teenagers surprise and shock you at times with bad attitudes, growls, grunts and the occasional string of words that make you stop in your tracks. There are also a lot of fun times too. Don’t get me wrong, we all get on 98% of the time, but there are days I really wonder what happened to my beautiful toddlers. I often remind myself that the days are long, but the years are short. Yes, I love being a mother (most days), but there are some days I fail miserably. I know I am not the only one, but I really hate to fail. We all forget things, forget whose turn it is, fail with being fair, say the wrong thing, misunderstand what is said or meant, jump to the wrong conclusion, double book ourselves, and in general – just get it all wrong.
BUT….
We all have to treat each other respectfully even when we are annoyed and frustrated!
This is the life lesson for one particular teenager at this moment. Poor little chicken has lost screen time again till Thursday! My mummy mantra in response to her ‘loss of ipad sadness’ at the moment is that “it takes 21 days to break a habit, and when your in trouble – consequences don’t usually feel good!”
So, until next time…. Keep enjoying the school holidays! Xo
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